1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a thin film transistor array panel and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
An active-type display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) or an organic light emitting display (OLED) includes a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix, field-generating electrodes and switching elements. The switching elements include thin film transistors (TFTs) having three terminals, for example: a gate, a source, and a drain. The TFT of each pixel of the plurality of pixels selectively transmits data signals to one of the field-generating electrodes in response to gate signals.
The active-type display device further includes a plurality of signal lines for transmitting signals to the switching elements, which include gate lines for transmitting gate signals and data lines for transmitting data signals.
The LCD and the OLED active-type display devices each include a panel provided with the TFTs, the field-generating electrodes, and the signal lines. This configuration is referred to as a TFT array panel.
The TFT array panel has a layered structure and includes several conductive and insulating layers. The gate lines, the data lines, and the field-generating electrodes are each formed on different conductive layers of the TFT array panel and are separated by insulating layers.
The TFT array panel having such a layered structure is manufactured by performing several lithography steps followed by a series of etching steps. Because the lithography steps take up a large amount of time, the manufacturing costs of a layered TFT array panel tend to be high. Thus, a need exists for a technique of manufacturing a layered TFT array panel using a smaller number of lithography steps for reducing the manufacturing time and costs associated therewith.